What is ETA Canada?

Travelling to other countries by country nationals during vacation or for attending friends and family event has been a trend today. Among many countries in the world, Canada is definitely a dream destination for travellers. During the end of 2016, Canadian government created a new rule that foreign nationals from visa exempt countries would need ‘Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)’ document as a pre-requisite to visit Canada by air instead of an entry visa.

Hence, ETA is a ‘digital travel entry document’ that every traveller from visa exempt country must apply on the official website of Canadian Government while getting prepared to fly to Canada or transiting through Canada by air.

Here is other critical information about ETA:

ETA is linked to traveller’s passport and valid for up to 5 years or until the passport expires whichever comes first.

It doesn’t guarantee an entry to Canada as border officials will ask for your passport and other additional document, you need to convince him on your eligibility to enter into Canada.

If you are travelling from a visa exempt country to Canada by land / bus / train / boat, you don’t require an ETA but an entry visa (ETA only needed for nationals from visa exempt countries flying to Canada or transiting through)

With a valid ETA, you can visit Canada as often as you need (up to six months at a time)

ETA is not needed to travel within Canada

Lawful permanent resident of USA

Applying for an ETA is a simple process that takes 15-30 minutes and majority of the applicants get the ETA approval via email within a minute (however sometimes it takes several days to obtain approval. You need to fill up information about yourself, number of days stay in the country, reason for travel, other countries your travelled etc.

Its good to have ETA first before booking your flight and hotel tickets.

Here is the list of visa exempt countries where ETA is a mandate to fly to Canada:

Andorra; Australia; Austria; Bahamas; Barbados; Belgium; British Citizen; British National (Overseas); British overseas citizen (re-admissible to the United Kingdom);British overseas territory citizen with citizenship through birth, descent, naturalization or registration in one of the British Overseas Territories of:

Anguilla

Bermuda

British Virgin Islands

Cayman Islands

Falkland Islands (Malvinas)

Gibraltar

Montserrat

Pitcairn Island

Saint Helena

Turks and Caicos Islands

British Subject with a right of abode in the United Kingdom; Brunei Darussalam; Bulgaria; Chile; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, must have a passport issued by Hong Kong SAR ; Hungary; Iceland; Ireland; Israel, must have a national Israeli passport; Italy; Japan; Republic of Korea; Latvia; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Mexico; Monaco; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Papua New Guinea; Poland; Portugal; Romania (electronic passport holders only); Samoa; San Marino; Singapore; Slovakia; Slovenia; Solomon Islands; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Taiwan, must have an ordinary passport issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan that includes the personal identification number; United Arab Emirates; United States, lawful permanent resident of Vatican City State, must have a passport or travel document issued by the Vatican.